May 20, 2014

American shows off new CRJ-900

American Airlines showed off the new CRJ-900 aircraft that it will be receiving from Bombardier in June.

The Fort Worth-based carrier said the two-class CRJ-900s will be flown by its wholly-owned subsidiary, PSA Airlines, as American Eagle, but hasn't disclosed which routes it will use the aircraft on.

"The economics of the plane are very good," said Kenji Hashimoto, American senior vice president of regional carriers. "It allows you to economically with competitive costs fly in the markets where customer demand is there but at the same time has all the features that our customers appreciate."

American has ordered 30 CRJ-900s and has the option to purchase 40 more. The 76-seat aircraft has 12 first class seats, 36 Main Cabin Extra seats and 28 standard economy seats.

"As there’s more pressures put on the economics of the aircraft, as manufacturers we strive every day to reduce the operating costs and to improve the fuel efficiency of the product," said Kevin Smith, Bombardier’s vice president of sales for the Americas.

Smith said the aircraft reduces fuel consumption by 5 percent than older models and also has new side walls, larger overhead compartments and bigger windows for customers.

"All these benefits translate into passenger comfort and for the branding that American wants to put forward to the customer," Smith said.

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As an AA mainline pilot, this is a sad state of affairs.. More young aspiring aviators trapped in the sweat shop commuter airline biz... one that is collapsing around us due to lack of new pilots entering the business. The odds of being trapped at a commuter airline for a long time, working for food stamp wages has turned the best and brightest away from this once proud profession ... Picture makes me sick

Notice this did not go to Envoy (American Eagle) due to their inability to see the real work of commuter flying. Regardless of what the Aa mainline pilot Joe has to say, in the real world the unions have forced the wages of enters level FO's to the level they are. Every regional airline mgmt group has given the unions the opportunity to take the money and split it the way they want to but they refuse so they don't look like the bad guy. Every entry level position deserves to start off at an entry level wage and work up from there. If they don't like it, they won't do it. The perceived pilot shortage is due to the new bogus FAR 117 rules in effect. Yes I am a pilot for a major carrier and yes I disagree with a lot lf what the greedy unions have to say. Weare not collapsing due to the lack of pilots, it's due to ALPA/Teamsters/etc. They are driving this industry into the ground just as the unions did with the steel industry and the auto industry. His is the next one they will ruin. After us, who is next? The plane is beautiful, congratulation to AAG for getting the deal done, more power and growth to you guys.

The only people who agree with the pro-union comments of the pilot above are the very few people in the country who are part of a union. They refuse to accept the fact that unions are no longer needed like they once were. We are much better off in an open-work society where people are free to come and go and employers are free to adjust to their markets and industry as they see fit. The almost-militant approach by the ALPA for the last 10 years is sickening to 85% of the public that they claim they serve. That's the most disappointing part of all of this - the huge disconnect between militant union workers and the majority of our population.

the Eagle union rejected a paycut request from AAG. A very good move on their part considering Express Jet pilots recently voted down a contract that paid higher than the junk contract AMR/AAG was offering. A rejional jet pilot has around $100,000 in flight training alone. According to the current contract, Envoy/Eagle starts out first officers at $1800/ month before taxes, or about $21,000 per year. That is for 6 day work weeks up to 15 hours per day, also a strong chance of having to relocate to a pilot base across the country. I dont have the numbers for a walmart retail worker to compair this too but I dont think we are too far off here.

joe's comment above is pretty darn accurate. There is little incentive to enter the pilot market. Low wages and no job security turns many away from investing in a pilot career.

David's comment hold merrit as well. The FAR 117 regulations were a response to the Colgan air flight 3407 crash. Fatigue was a heavy contribution to the fatal incident. However the first officer of that flight made less than $20K a year, had to commute from Seattle to Newark for work, and had a second job at Starbucks to make ends meet. All of that stacked on top of a 16 hour work days. The Cargo industry managed to stay out of the FAR 117 rules but the somewhat recent crash of UPS1654 validates the need for the cargo sector to be under the same regulations, despite the shortfalls of the new regulations. The consumer is the one who pays the biggest price from FAR117. If anyone wants to discuss the subject further or verify my credentials feel free to email me.